1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fishing reel which is improved in the rotation balance of a handle arm used to wind a fishing line around a spool.
2. Description of the Related Art
A handle is mounted on a drive shaft of a take-up drive mechanism provided within a reel main body in order to wind a fishing line around a spool. As disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 56-68473 of Showa, the handle has a handle arm including a handle knob in one portion thereof, and a balancer in the other portion thereof. The balancer is used to keep the balance of the handle arm.
In the above-mentioned structure, the handle knob to be mounted on the handle arm is composed of a shaft portion and a grip portion and is formed in an outwardly projecting shape.
Since the balancer, provided on the counter-handle-knob side of the handle arm, is set such that the weight thereof balances well with the weight of the whole handle knob, the rotation balance of the handle arm is rather good. However, in fact, the whole handle knob has a center of gravity distant outwardly from the position of the handle arm, whereas the balancer has a center of gravity existing substantially in the center of the balancer. That is, the position of center of gravity of the whole handle knob is different from that of the balancer, which makes it difficult to achieve the high-precision balance of the handle arm using the balancer.
In order that a balancer having a weight capable of canceling the weight of the handle knob side portion of the handle arm can be disposed at a position opposed to the handle knob with respect to the drive shaft, Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-163277 of Heisei discloses another structure in which, on the opposite side of the handle knob of the handle arm, there is disposed another balancer which is capable of shifting the center of gravity of the present handle knob. However, in this structure, since the balancer for shifting the center of gravity is additionally provided in the handle arm, the weight of the whole handle arm becomes heavy to thereby worsen the weight balance between the right and left portions of the whole reel, which results in the worsened fishing operation efficiency of the fishing reel.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-74267 of Heisei discloses a structure in which a balancer for correction of the balance of the handle arm is further provided in the handle arm including a pair of handle knobs to thereby improve the balance of the handle arm. However, in this structure as well, similarly to the former structure, the weight of the whole handle arm becomes heavy to thereby worsen the weight balance between the right and left portions of the whole reel, which results in the worsened fishing operation efficiency of the reel.
The conventional balance improving technique for the handle arm results in additional provision of one or more parts, and the weight increase of the handle arm, that is, the whole fishing reel becomes heavy in weight to worsen the fishing operation efficiency of the fishing reel.